Sides trade barbs over rail worker walkoff

March 04, 2005|By From news services.

While the accusations flew between BNSF Railway management and its dispatchers union Thursday, both sides agreed it was unlikely a strike similar to the one that snarled the commutes of thousands of Metra passengers a day earlier would recur.

Still, Metra Executive Director Philip Pagano asked the head of the dispatchers union to consider the service needs of the commuter rail line if the labor dispute continues and "give us ample advance warning so that appropriate advance guidance can be given to our customers."

"The timing of the disruption could not have been worse for more than 30,000 commuters dependent on Metra's BNSF service, coming as it did at the very start of our evening rush hour," Pagano wrote to F. Leo McCann, the union's president.

Pagano was reacting to the walkoff of more than 100 BNSF dispatchers who left their posts in Ft. Worth at around 4 p.m. Wednesday over a dispute about comp time. Because the dispatchers are responsible for guiding trains along the track, their strike halted locomotives across the western half of the country and left some Illinois Metra passengers stranded in rail cars or stuck in Union Station waiting to get home.

Metra's operations on the BNSF line resumed nearly an hour later after the BNSF found managers to fill in for the dispatchers. But the work stoppage continued to trigger delays into the evening as Metra tried to recover from the work stoppage.

In a news release Thursday, the union said the dispatchers walked off the job because BNSF has made "illegal and unilateral" changes in how it grants comp time without the union's consent.

BNSF disputed that claim and fought back by filing a lawsuit in federal court in Texas, according to company spokesman Richard Russack. The railroad believes the union acted illegally by walking off without giving advance notice, he added.